Originally published by:

MORE ON:

Angrily poking a cable at a USB port only to realize the plug is the wrong way round is soon to be a distant painful memory with the announcement that the next USB port will be reversible.

We will finally be able to slot USB cables into computers and chargers with ease thanks to a new design called the Type-C, which will be slimmer and far more accommodating.

The new port, which is due to be introduced in mid-2014, will be about the size of a micro-USB port and work in the same vein as Apple’s Lightning connector (the place where you plug the newer generations of iPhone, iPad or iPod introduced in 2012) where it doesn’t matter which way around you insert the cable.

While this news may give us cause to celebrate, there comes the problem of all our millions of gadgets that rely on the current design of USB. Many will not likely be compatible so will require adapters.

But the new USB will hopefully make the next wave of laptops slimmer as a result.

Alex Peleg of Intel told the Daily Mail the company “is excited to see the development of the new thin Type-C connector as it will enable an entirely new super thin class of devices from phones to tablets, to 2-in-1s, to laptops to desktops and a multitude of other more specific usage devices.”